Pandora's wine
the journal of Michael Werneburg
twenty-eight years and a million words
When this charming millennium was still young there was in Canada a show on TV called "Corner Gas". It's where the world got the word "staycation" for a vacation taken while at home. In the episode "Pandora's wine" a resident of the show's small town in Saskatchewan brings a gift of wine to dinner with a couple that had previously relied on a "wine with a bull on the label". The new wine bumps them out of their habit as it's substantially better. However, the new wine is also more expensive, which causes the couple to grouse for the rest of the episode (and attempt retaliation).
I've now had a few cases of this being bumped from my "bracket" due to living on my own here in Tokyo during the Corona Times. First, all of the natto was sold out in the grocery store except for the stuff that costs an extra ¥20 or so per container. So now I'm hooked on that, because it's significantly better than the regular stuff I've been eating.
The greatest cases of all came just now when I lit into the food sent by Mari's parents. There were garden fresh white onions (I can't even find white onions in any of the markets here) and tinned Saba (Mackerel). I slashed into one of the onions and mixed that with a tin of Mackerel and some mayo. I was immediately struck by its obvious superiority to what I've been eating from the stores. And I have quite a few tins from the store and some dispirited yellow onions. Dang!
Bonus: I'm expecting another bump from my usual, this time in the case of the brown rice I've been eating. The next bag I'll be eating was again all they had left when I bought it, and it was substantially more expensive than the normal.
Don't worry store brand lemon tea, we'll always have each other.